Six tips for a Spa Castle adventure
I’ve been intrigued by Spa Castle for a long time: it’s a Korean spa complex with a bit of a mixed reputation. I love relaxing in saunas and steam rooms and spas, and it’s pretty rare to find a spa experience like that in New York City.
So my friend Kate and I decided to go on a spa adventure last weekend, and we actually had a really great and relaxing time! I definitely feel like we did Spa Castle right on our first try, and here are six tips if you decide to venture out to Queens for the ultimate Korean spa experience:
#1: Drive if you can
Our trip to Spa Castle coincided very nicely with my friend Kate getting a car (woohoo!). Spa Castle located in College Point, Queens, which is pretty deep and not super easy to get to on public transportation. There’s a shuttle from the last stop on the 7 train and a few locations in Flushing, but it would take about an hour and a half on the subway from my apartment. Obviously, getting there had been a bit of a sticking point–but it was a nice, easy drive in the morning and we found a free parking spot right across the street from entrance (thank you parking gods!). Before trying the subway out, I would honestly look into a car service/Uber and see what the cost would be like to split it with a few people.
#2: Get there early
The spa opens at 8am and the pools open at 10am. We got there right around 8:30am (which is probably why we got such a good parking spot). Even though a 6:30am wakeup call seemed a little nutty on a Saturday (and I discovered that no coffee shops in my neighborhood open before 8 on the weekends!), I am SO happy we got there early (and also that Kate brought me coffee). When we arrived, we waltzed right in and basically had the spas and saunas to ourselves for an hour or so. We took a break for a treatment while waiting for the pools to open up, and then did a circuit of the pools and the (now fairly crowded) saunas for about an hour. When we left around noon, the line was out the door and all of the pools were packed! Totally worth it to get there early–I don’t think we would have had nearly the same experience in the afternoon.
#3: Bring a bathing suit and not much else
Once you arrive, you’ll be be given a “uniform” that basically consists of a cotton t-shirt and shorts that resembles a high school gym uniform and is just as unflattering. You have to wear there whenever you’re in the unisex areas, which is where most of the saunas are. I had packed a robe and a towel just in case, but you don’t really need them–you have to be wearing the uniform whenever you’re not a) in a bathing suit or b) naked (more on that below).
#4: Prepare to be naked
In the women’s locker room, there is a set-up of whirlpools and saunas. You have to be FULLY NUDE to go in these pools–and believe me, if you wander in unaware and in a bikini, someone will tell you to take it off! It’s a weirdly liberating experience with a bunch of different bodies, but if you’re not cool with it–stick to the unisex areas.
#5: Get a treatment
My friend Kate got a facial, and she waltzed out of that treatment room GLOWING and looking so refreshed. I opted for a Korean body scrub. There’s a private room option that’s more expensive, so I figured what the heck and went for the public one. Like everything in the women’s locker room, it’s fully nude, covers the whole body and there aren’t many frills. It’s not necessarily the most pleasurable experience–they really scrub you!–but my skin did feel super soft afterwards. You can also add on a massage, and if the timing with appointments had worked, I definitely would have opted for that.
#6: Get dumplings in Flushing
We left around 12:30 and headed straight to Flushing for lunch! Parking was a nightmare, so Kate hung in the car while I ran into White Bear for the MOST INCREDIBLE DUMPLINGS. There’s food offered at Spa Castle (and no outside food or drink is allowed), but it seemed like a weird hodgepodge of offerings (baked eggs, dumplings, enchiladas, etc.) and it wasn’t cheap (a smoothie cost $9!)–so I’m glad we decided to experience Flushing. It was my first time there, and now I’m really eager to go back and do a bit of a dumpling crawl.
Overall, we had such a fun time! It was a really great ladies adventure day, and although it wasn’t officially on the NYC bucket list–I’m still glad that we finally made it happen after talking about it for years.
Costs: it costs $50 entrance on the weekends, and the scrub treatment was $60 for 30 minutes.
Have you been to Spa Castle before? Any other spa recommendations around the world?
